The good signs continue. We’re battling some soreness and whatnot, but the performance is good. Victorino’s got some extra-base hits, and the pitchers continue to make a strong showing. Drew left camp to see a concussion specialist; he resumed baseball activities, but the timetable for his full return is unclear. Papi made his return to the batting cages. Congratulations to the Dominican Republic; Team DR won the World Baseball Classic. And last but most certainly not least, we and the Yanks have decided to dedicate Opening Day by honoring the community and memory of Newtown, Connecticut. It’s going to be a beautiful ceremony, and the two teams are really doing the right thing.

We lost to the Pirates on Monday, 4-3. Buchholz ruled the day; in five innings, he made one mistake in the form of a solo shot while walking two and striking out four. Carpenter took the blown save and the loss; he gave up two runs. Nava went two for three, and Victorino tripled. On Tuesday, we lost to Baltimore, 8-7. Dempster went five innings, giving up three runs on six hits. Tazawa turned in a scoreless inning, and Bard gave up three runs on two hits. Middlebrooks went two for three with a double, and Victorino doubled as well. Unfortunately the Yanks shut us out on Wednesday; better in Spring Training than in the regular season. Doubront pitched four and one-third innings and gave up four runs on seven hits. Bailey finished the rest of the inning. Hanrahan and Mortensen each pitched a scoreless frame. We beat the Phillies yesterday, 6-1. Lackey looked pretty sharp; he tossed five innings and gave up only one run on four hits while walking none and striking out one. Bailey pitched a scoreless frame and picked up the win. Pedroia went two for two with a double; Middlebrooks doubled, and Victorino tripled.

It’s the middle of March. The roster is thinning down, and the team’s performance is moving up. As Opening Day nears, the pitchers especially are the players to watch. Wins and losses means nothing in Spring Training, when regulars routinely don’t complete games, but a game is a game, and you can watch a pitcher’s motion and see how comfortable he is with certain pitches and certain situations. Also pay attention to defense and injury in the field. These things won’t necessarily predict our performance this year, but at least we’ll be able to tell how ready this year’s team is to face the music when the season starts. Honestly, I have to say, it looks pretty good.

Nava is surely going to win a spot on the bench now that he’s proven himself at first, where he’s seen playing time this spring. Drew has been out with a concussion that he sustained after getting hit by a pitch. Papi started running the bases a bit but, due to soreness in his right foot derived from his Achilles injury, he’s had to take it easy as well. While he’s sat out, Farrell’s been rotating the DH spot. Unfortunately, he may very well start the season on the disabled list. So will Breslow, due to problems with his left shoulder, and Morales, due to problems with his lower back. Napoli actually saw action in consecutive days and managed to survive, which was a very good sign. Aceves returned to camp after Team Mexico was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured in the significant brawl that broke out between Team Mexico and Team Canada when the former got upset because the latter bunted with the game practically won already. Team Mexico didn’t know about the Classic’s tiebreakers, which use run differential, and thought it was bad form. So several Canadian players ganged up on Aceves and dragged him to the ground. Like I said, we’re pretty lucky he wasn’t injured. Victorino will also be heading back to camp now that Team USA is out. Steven Wright, the knuckleballer who may not be, since he’s having some trouble getting a handle on the pitch, got cut along with Deven Marrero, Drake Britton, Justin Henry, Alex Hassan, Mark Hamilton, Jeremy Hazelbaker, Juan Carlos Linares, Pedro Beato, Rubby De La Rosa, Allen Webster, Christian Velazquez, Daniel Butler, and Alex Wilson. Ryan Westmoreland, once considered one of our best farmboys, is retiring. We traded cash to Baltimore for Mike Flacco, who plays first base. Yes, he’s the brother of Joe Flacco. Yaz made his annual visit to camp, making the rounds with current Sox and former teammates.

Now let’s talk action. We beat the Rays on March 4, 5-1. Doubront made his debut and tossed 1.2 shutout innings including a hit, two walks, and two K’s. Carpenter also tossed a shutout frame to end the game. Iglesias went two for two with two doubles; Salty also had a double to his credit, and Overbay tripled. We were back in action Wednesday opposite the Pirates, who beat us, 9-3. On the bright side, Lester looked especially sharp; he hurled four comforting and relief-inspiring innings, during which he allowed one hit on two runs while walking three and striking out three. I wasn’t a fan of the three walks, but it’s more important that he slowly but steadily lengthens his starts without also augmenting his run total. Wright took the loss and gave up five runs on five hits; Tazawa pitched a shutout inning to end it. Ciriaco went two for four, and Gomes and Salty both doubled. We beat the Twins on Thursday, 12-5. For the first three innings, it was all Buchholz, who dominated with a shutout performance and issued two hits, no walks, and four K’s. Hanrahan delivered a deflating fail of a third of an inning, during which he gave up four runs on four hits, but Bard pitched a shutout inning. Meanwhile, Pedroia and Napoli each collected two hits; Pedroia doubled and Napoli smacked a home run that seemed like he could really get used to the power again. The Twins bested us the next day, though, with a shutout performance. Dempster took the loss and gave up the game’s only two runs. We lost to the O’s on Saturday, 5-2. Doubront gave up two runs on four hits over three innings with a walk and five strikeouts; Hanrahan and Bailey both delivered shutout frames. Salty had himself two hits, and Overbay doubled.

We beat the Rays on Sunday, 6-2. Lackey worked three and two-thirds inning and gave up two runs on four hits, one of them a homer, while walking two and striking out two. It doesn’t seem like much, but that start was better than most of the ones we’ve seen from him in recent memory; granted, it doesn’t take much from him at this point to constitute a good sign, but you have to start rebuilding somewhere. Overbay went two for three, and Ross had himself a three-run jack. The Marlins beat us on Monday, 8-7; Lester delivered five beautiful innings, giving up one run on three hits while walking none and striking out four. Carpenter took the blown save and the loss, giving up two runs on two hits en route to recording the game’s last two outs. Salty doubled, and Middlebrooks homered for the first time since getting injured! He looked mighty comfortable doing it, too. Like he could do it again. Repeatedly. We beat the Jays on Tuesday, 5-3. Buchholz kept up his strong performance with four shutout innings during which he issued one K and gave up three hits. Bailey turned in a shutout inning of his own. Nava, Napoli, and Sweeney each had two hits; Napoli, Sweeney, and Middlebrooks each hit doubles.

We had Wednesday off and bested the Twins on Thursday, 7-3. Dempster picked up the win with four innings of one-run, three-hit ball; Bard pitched a shutout inning. Ellsbury went two for three with a double; Iglesias smacked a double as well. Friday’s game against Baltimore ended in a tie at three after ten; Mortensen started and tossed three shutout innings of two-hit ball, and no one had a multihit game. We crushed Tampa Bay on Saturday, 9-2. Aceves pitched four and one-third innings during which he gave up three runs, two earned, on six hits with one walk and five K’s. Iglesias and Gomez both had two hits; Iglesias tripled, and Gomez doubled. We beat Tampa Bay again yesterday, 5-1, on the shoulders of a literally perfect performance by Lester. Six innings. No runs. No hits. No walks. Six K’s, or an average of one per inning. Even Hanrahan got in the spirit and delivered a shutout inning. It was only Spring Training, but it was a glorious indication of things to come. Expect him to start on Opening Day for sure. Middlebrooks went two for three, and Gomes was perfect at the plate; both doubled.

In other news, the Bruins lost to the Caps in sudden death but then beat the Leafs, Flyers, and Sens. We lost to the Penguins and then beat the Panthers and Caps before losing to the Penguins again.

Now that Spring Training is thoroughly underway, it’s high time for a status report.

Pitchers and catchers had physicals on February 11 and their first official team workout the following day. Naturally, Buchholz just had to strain his right hamstring about ten minutes into the first pitchers’ fielding practice of the spring, but it turned out to be minor and he was back out there that Wednesday and had proceeded to long toss by that Friday and a forty-five-pitch side session that Monday. Lackey lost a whopping seventeen pounds and is looking lean. Don’t expect to see fireworks right away from Breslow or Doubront, who have been assigned to a more cautious training program. Tim Wakefield was back at camp basically tutoring Steven Wright, the knuckleball’s next generation, and as we knew they would be, Pedro Martinez and Tek are also using their veteran skill to help out. Mike Lowell is another surprise veteran guest. And for some bizarre reason, when Aceves started throwing live batting practice, he insisted on lobbing the ball; I don’t really know what that was about. Needless to say, he cleaned up his act. Nieves and Farrell didn’t seem to know what was going on either, but Farrell sure was annoyed; as were we all.

The rest of the team reported on February 14. Look for Victorino and Ellsbury to get a lot of practice in this spring. Fenway’s right field is probably the most formidable in all of baseball, so it’ll be good for the two of them to nail down a routine. Also look for Farrell to exercise considerable caution with Napoli, who started defensive drills at first on February 17; his hip MRI had come back clean, so he was given the green light. Papi is not baserunning or conditioning with the team; he’s on his own specific running program that will slowly but steadily increase in intensity. Middlebrooks’s broken wrist is officially history, as is Drew’s fractured ankle. We acquired Mike Carp from Seattle for either a player to be named later or cash considerations.

We played our first exhibition on January 21; it was a double-header, first against Northeastern and then against Boston College, and we won, 3-0 and 11-1. Only the relievers pitched; each got one inning, and Hanrahan debuted, successfully getting around two baserunners. The regulars batted in the first game, while the minor leaguers got a turn in the second.

Grapefruit League play officially began on Saturday against the Rays. We lost by one, and Lackey pitched only one inning, giving up a walk, a hit, a strikeout, and a run, but he looked pretty comfortable. We played the Cards next, winning by two; Lester pitched two solid innings, Nava and Gomez both had multi-hit games, and Ciriaco batted in two runs. Then we had a double-header with the Rays and Jays, splitting the day. Aceves gave up two runs, two hits, and two walks over two innings, but Bard issued a walk and a strikeout in his scoreless inning, and Pedroia hit a solo shot. The staff issued a solid performance in the afternoon, with a good amount of the offensive support not coming from the regulars. Our following game against the Cards ended in the worst way: with a 15-4 loss. Dempster pitched two solid innings, but the same can not be said of the remainder of the staff; Mortensen took the loss. Ciriaco went two for two, and Iglesias hit a double. We lost to Baltimore by two after that; Morales pitched his inning well, Hanrahan struck out two but walked one and allowed a run, and Tazawa was awarded a blown save as well as the loss. Gomes hit a solo shot, and Ciriaco had himself another two hits, including a triple. Middlebrooks had to leave the game with soreness in his wrist, but it turned out to be nothing, and he feels fine and returned. Thank goodness, because I don’t know what we’d do if he were down for the count. We’re not exactly deep at the corner there. For his part, Gomes got personal with a wall and had to get stitches in his left knee as a result; this game really was not good to us.

On Thursday against the Bucs, Lackey upped the ante with two innings of work. He gave up three runs with a walk, a strikeout, and a homer, but it seems like the more he goes out there, the more comfortable he seems. And there’s no question about the fact that he’s throwing the ball well. It was a 16-6 win, so the offense was also a highlight; the regulars were pretty quiet, and there were no extra-base hits, but we made a strong showing nonetheless. It’s nice to know that the next generation can play some strong small ball. Lester took a turn on Friday, pitching three innings of one-hit ball against the Orioles. Pedroia went two for two and Drew hit a double en route to the win. We eked out a victory against the Twins next; during 1.1 innings, Buchholz walked two, struck out two, and gave up one hit. Aceves was awarded both a blown save and a win, and Sweeney went two for four.

Last but not least, we played the Evil Empire yesterday, losing, 5-2. But hey, it’s Spring Training; the final score is never as important as the baseball being played. Dempster pitched three one-hit innings with two strikeouts; Hanrahan blew his save and took the loss. No one had a multi-hit game, but Salty doubled and Napoli hit a solo shot, which was quite the sight to see. He cleared the sign in right center field 420 feet away. It was huge. I saw that, and it was so nice to really observe the reason why he’s here.

Bard will throw twenty or so pitches in a simulated game on Monday. Papi has been running the bases a little bit but has felt sore. Finally, Lucchino thinks our sellout streak will end soon; he cites April 10 as a possible end date. I know there’s always a debate surrounding what the sellout streak has meant and whether it really means anything at all, but for a franchise like this with a fan base like ours, such a streak really shouldn’t be ending anytime soon. That’s all I have to say about it. And I’ll end with the beginning: Farrell’s opening address on February 15. This was basically his opportunity to introduce himself and his philosophy to the team. Even though many on the team know him and are familiar with the way he works, the gesture shows humility, collaboration, and the kind of professionalism that he urged members of the team to adopt. The great thing is that, in many ways, Farrell is a product and holdover from the Francona era, but he’s still a fresh perspective, much-needed indeed after the debacle that was last season. Farrell was compelling and inspiring. He’s the man we should have had at the helm all along. It just feels right, and it’s going to be a good year.

In other news, the Bruins beat the Jets, Bolts, Panthers, Isles, Sens, and Bolts again! Sadly, our winning streak came to an end with a 4-3 loss to the Habs.

Finally! Okay, now we’re in business. I don’t want to necessarily say that the news is big news; I think a year or two ago it would have been really big news, but players age year to year, and last year’s phenom is this year’s solid, all-around acquisition who’s good but doesn’t necessarily have that wow factor anymore. But given our needs and our situation, I’d say Ben’s moves during and after the Winter Meetings were good and much-needed ones. He’s putting together a stable team while maintaining a healthy amount of financial flexibility, and John Farrell is happy with the developments. All in all, I’d say we’re definitely going in a great direction.

Anyway, let’s get down to it. We’ve signed Mike Napoli to a three-year contract worth thirty-nine million dollars. Don’t let last season’s aggregate stats fool you. He batted .227 with twenty-four home runs and fifty-six RBIs with an on-base percentage of .343, but look at his numbers in his new home: .307 batting average, nine home runs, twenty RBIs, and a 1.14 OBP. Admittedly, the sample size of seventy-five at-bats is small, but numbers aside, he’s known for pulling the ball, and his swing will thrive in Fenway. As for defense, he’s a catcher by trade, but don’t expect to see him behind the plate. He’ll probably end up at first.

Our next name is Shane Victorino, the Flyin’ Hawaiian. It’s another three-year, thirty-nine-million-dollar deal. Last year, he batted .255 with eleven homers, fifty-five RBIs, and a .321 OBP. Don’t forget that he bats switch, though, and while he batted .229 as a leftie, he batted .320 as a rightie. But he had vastly more at-bats from the left than the right, so again, the sample size must be considered. Still, versatility has never been frowned upon in our organization. As for defense, like Napoli, Victorino will not field in familiar territory. All trade rumors concerning Ellsbury are patently false, and Victorino will not be playing center. He’ll be playing right for sure. And it’ll be a welcome relief. Fenway’s right field can break any veteran, but Shane has the stuff to handle it. He has three Gold Gloves and a center fielder’s speed and arm, and that combination in right, once he learns the fatal angles out there, will be formidable. It’ll be nice breathing easy with a steady patrol out there.

It’s worth noting that Ben and John met in person with Josh Hamilton, but don’t get too excited. We already have Ellsbury, and Hamilton wants either Texas or a long-term deal, neither of which we will provide.

And we signed Ryan Dempster to a two-year deal worth $26.5 million. Granted, he has spent almost all of his time in the National League aside from a few handfuls of games last season, which he started for Texas. But his ERA was 3.38 last season, and his WHIP was 1.20; not too shabby. Just as important, if not more important, to why we were interested in him in the first place is the fact that, before last season, his last for seasons totaled at least two hundred innings, and last season he clocked 173 innings which isn’t too far behind. That means three things: durability, durability, durability. On the other hand, durability doesn’t mean much unless you’re good, and his brief stint in the American League didn’t go well at all, so I’m concerned as to how he’ll make out in the AL East, which, as we all know, is the toughest division there is, basically. So I’d say we can approach this one with cautious expectations. But at least we got some sort of starting pitcher, which is a step in the right direction. We also added Koji Uehara, who signed a one-year deal. In thirty-six innings last year, he posted a 1.75 ERA and an 0.64 WHIP. That means good late-inning work for us.

We finished the Zach Stewart trade by acquiring Kyle Kaminska from the Pirates and assigned him to the PawSox. We also claimed Sandy Rosario from the A’s, and he has since been claimed by the Cubs. Gary DiSarcina, formerly the Angels’ minor league field coordinator, is now the PawSox manager.

So we had gaps and voids, we identified them, and we set about filling them with solid, stable choices who will fit in both on the field and in the clubhouse. We now have some powerful hitters and defenders in the lineup whose numbers admittedly were not great last year but who stand, given the right circumstances, to do great things, and we have some great additions to the clubhouse as well. We also have a starter who’s spent hardly any time in the AL and whose time he did spend in the AL was nothing to write home about but who has considerable potential. We still have a lot of work to do; we need more and better starting pitching, for one thing. That’s a big one. But slowly but surely we’re getting it done. We don’t need to make the world’s biggest splash to put a team together that can go the distance.

In other news, the Pats beat the Dophins, 23-16, and the Texans, 42-14.

Still nothing to write home about yet. Arnie Beyeler, who’s been managing the PawSox, is our new first base coach. Greg Colbrunn, formerly of the Evil Empire, is our new hitting coach. Victor Rodriguez, our former minor league coordinator, is our new assistant hitting coach.

As far as players are concerned, we’ve non-tendered Ryan Sweeney, Rich Hill, and Scott Atchison. We traded Zach Stewart, who we got from the Other Sox for Kevin Youkilis, to the Pirates for a player to be named later. Last but not least, although we claim that we’re still working on resigning Cody Ross, we worked out a two-year deal worth ten million dollars for Johnny Gomes pending a physical.

Lester is officially our Opening Day starter. In a very sportsmanlike gesture, Beckett told Bobby V. in January that Lester was the man for the job even though Beckett’s season last year was better. It’s all good, though, because Beckett will be starting our home opener. Speaking of pitchers, Vicente Padilla and Andrew Miller are out of the running for the rotation, and we’ve only got a short time left until decisions are made and the season gets underway!

We’ve got two rotation spots to fill, and Bard, Aceves, Doubront, and Cook will be fighting for them. Here are some Spring Training numbers to date. Bard is one and two with a 7.11 ERA. He has pitched twelve and two-thirds innings; he has given up ten runs on eleven hits while walking ten and striking out six. Aceves’s only decision has been a loss, and he has posted a 7.50 ERA. In four appearances, he has walked one and struck out eleven. Doubront’s only decision has been a win, and he has posted a 2.70 ERA. He has pitched sixteen and two-thirds innings; he has walked six and struck out ten, and his average-against is .290. Finally, Cook has posted a 1.93 ERA. He pitched nine and one-third innings; he has given up two runs on five hits while walking three and striking out six.

We beat the Rays on Sunday, 8-4. Buchholz allowed one run on four hits, no walks, and four strikeouts in five innings of work during which he threw plenty of curveballs and felt fine doing it. That run came on a solo shot, Evan Longoria’s first of Spring Training. Ross hit a home run.

The Twins beat us on Monday, 8-4. Doubront made the start and pitched four and two-thirds innings. He gave up two runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out three. Forty-nine of his seventy-four pitches were strikes. Ellsbury had two hits.

The Jays beat us on Tuesday, 9-2. Bard pitched five innings, four of which were decent. In total, he gave up three runs on three hits, walked three, and struck out two. He threw eighty-three pitches. All three of those runs occurred in the second inning. Shoppach hit a two-run home run in the second. Meanwhile, Red Sox Nation sends their condolences to the family of Mel Parnell, who passed away. He is the winningest southpaw in club history. He spent his entire career here and pitched a no-hitter against the Other Sox in 1956, his last season. According to Johnny Pesky, it was Parnell who coined the name “Pesky’s Pole” for Fenway’s right-field foul pole. Mel Parnell was indeed a character who will be missed, and as I send, we send our condolences to his family and friends.

We lost to the Pirates on Wednesday, 6-5. Lester pitched three innings and gave up four runs on eight hits. He walked two, struck out one, and didn’t exactly inspire much confidence in his presumed ability to hit the ground running next month. Salty hit a two-run home run and a double, and Gonzalez hit an RBI double.

We tied the Yankees at four on Thursday. In four innings, Cook gave up two runs on four hits while walking none, striking out two, and picking off two. Pedro Ciriaco and Lars Anderson both doubled, and Sweeney scored the tying run. Interestingly enough, or perhaps the better phrase for it would be “conveniently enough,” Joe Girardi announced that the Yanks had a bus to catch just as Clay Mortensen was getting ready to pitch the tenth. Girardi claimed that his team wouldn’t be pitching extra innings because they didn’t have enough arms, which the travel list indicated was false. Mortensen warmed up for no reason in that case, and Bobby V. was not amused. Honestly, in that situation, who would be? Adding to that drama, Tito returned, this time to broadcast the game for ESPN. He’ll be in the both for Opening Day and for the April 22 Yankee game. But you could totally tell that this meeting brought up a lot of raw memories. Meanwhile, Beckett started a minor league game opposite the Orioles. He faced twenty-two batters in six innings, giving up two runs on six hits while walking none and striking out six. He threw eighty pitches, all called by Salty.

Friday began with a most unpleasant surprise: Jenks was arrested in Florida for driving under the influence and fleeing a crash. I must say, I am extremely disappointed; if he doesn’t want to act like a stand-up citizen because that’s the kind of conduct that we as Red Sox Nation expect from our team in Boston, then he should act like a stand-up citizen because he should recognize his position as a role model and public figure. He apologized for it today, but still. Friday ended with a 6-5 loss to the Orioles in which Buchholz pitched five innings, during which he gave up five runs on seven hits while walking one and striking out three. A strange sight: Nick Markakis hit what everyone thought was a flyout but what turned out to be a home run, thanks to the wind. He even threw his bat down and everything. McDonald went three for three.

We played two split-squad games on Saturday. First, we beat the Marlins, 4-1. Doubront threw seventy-eight pitches over six innings, giving up one run on five hits while striking out two. Lavarnway went two for three with an RBI. Ross, Sweeney, and Ciriaco also batted in a run each. Then, the Phillies beat us, 10-5. Aceves did not have a good outing at all; he only lasted three innings and gave up nine runs on ten hits while walking one and striking out three. Bowden pitched two innings and gave up a run on three hits. Padilla pitched a scoreless inning. Bailey pitched a scoreless inning while walking one and striking out one. Ellsbury tripled in two runs. Aviles had two hits.

In other news, the B’s decimated the Leafs, eight-zip. Then we lost to the Sharks, 2-1, and beat the Kings, 4-2.

It seems like everyone’s focus this spring is on the question of who will be our fifth starter. Obviously that’s a worthy focus because the identity of the fifth starter is important, and I think it says a lot about who’s managing this team that we don’t even have a sliver of a clue as to who it would be. But we should also keep in mind that there are other things to watch for, like making sure that Papi and Youk get on a roll early, that Ellsbury’s season last year was the norm rather than the exception, that the catchers are handling the staff properly, and that the starters whose identities we do know are healthy and effective.

We beat the Orioles on Tuesday, 5-4. Bard made his first start of spring and was awarded a no-decision. He pitched two scoreless innings. Aceves also fired two innings, striking out two and walking none.

Our game against the Jays on Wednesday ended in a tie at three. Lester stayed behind and pitched two and two-thirds innings in a B game against the Twins; he walked two, struck out one, and gave up a hit.

The Cards bested us, 9-3, on Thursday. Beckett pitched three scoreless innings; he walked none, struck out none, and allowed two hits, a single and a double. Jose Iglesias whacked a triple with the bases loaded and looks more like a starter with every passing game.

Buchholz took Friday’s 7-4 loss to the Pirates. He gave up two runs on three hits, struck out one, and walked none. He threw some really beautiful changeups. Papi hit his second homer of spring on a 2-1 count.

We shut out the Rays, five-zip, on Saturday. Bard delivered three scoreless innings; he struck out one, walked two, and gave up two hits. Thirty of his forty-nine pitches were strikes. He relied heavily on his changeup. It was his first three-inning stint in a single game since 2007, then a starting pitcher in the minors. Supposedly, though, it technically hasn’t officially been decided that he’ll be starting; I guess they want to ensure that his stamina and arsenal are sufficient. Aceves also delivered three scoreless innings; he struck out two, walked none, and gave up two hits. Salty coaxed a walk with the bases loaded in the first, BJ Upton’s error on Iglesias’s fly ball brought in another two runs, and Youk smacked an RBI double.

McClure says that Dice-K looks great. I just want to see if he pitches great.

Even after Papelbon is traded, it seems we can’t escape the drama that naturally seems to emanate from his person. He claims that Red Sox Nation is more hysterical, while Phillies fans are more knowledgeable about the game because the Phillies are in the National League. That’s ridiculous. First of all, it’s possible to be hysterical and knowledgeable at the same time; just because we love our guys, a fact from which he was all too happy to benefit when it suited him just fine, doesn’t mean we also don’t know what we’re talking about. We do indeed most definitely know exactly what we’re talking about. And the fact that the Phillies are in the National League means absolutely nothing and is completely irrelevant. I’m just saying.

In other news, the B’s lost to the Caps but beat the Leafs and Sabres. We have eighty-three points so far this season, two above the Sens in our division and tied with the Devils if, as division leaders, we were not automatically seeded second.